nEyeMaker 1.0

Eyes are a really important part of the character and it is not always easy to get them looking right.
There are so many aspects that have to work together to make the result believable.
I started this as a little study about correct eye anatomy and refraction on the cornea. Then it got out of hand and I ended up making it fully procedural and with a little GUI to easily tweak the parameters.😀
Here is a fast preview of what you can achieve:

The control GUI is located in the extra parameters of the locator called “nEyeMaker_customSettings” inside the nEyeMaker group.

PUPIL

A) Pupil Size: This is the size of the pupil in the UV space. You should tweak this parameter only if you are using the shading network with your own pupil geometry.

B) Pupil Line Blur: This controls how hard or soft the pupil is.

IRIS

A) Iris Size: This is the size of the iris in the UV space. You should tweak this parameter only if you are using the shading network with your own pupil geometry.

B) Iris Line Blur: This controls how hard or soft the iris line is.

C) Iris Global Hue: This lets you globally change the hue of the iris. This should be the main control for color changes

D) Iris Global Saturation: This lets you globally change the saturation of the iris.

E) Iris Global Value: This lets you globally change the value of the iris.

F) Iris Gradient: It darkens the outer part of the iris.

G) Iris Color A: First color of the iris, you can use this to tweak the final color after changing the main hue.

H) Iris Color B: Second color of the iris, you can use this to tweak the final color after changing the main hue.

I) Iris Color C: This color is multlied with the other two affecting the overall hue of the iris.

L) Iris Spot Color: This controls the color of the little spots you can see on the iris near the pupil.

M) Iris Spot Frequency: It changes the noise frequency that creates the spots.

P) Iris Stripes Scale Y: This stretches the iris stripes in the V direction. Lower values make fewer and blurrier lines. Higher values make more and sharper lines.

Q) Iris Shards Amount: This controls the opacity of the dark shards overlayed on the iris.

S) Iris Shards Rotate: This controls the rotation of the dark shards

R) Iris Shards Scale: This controls the scale of the dark shards.

T) Iris Noise Amount: This control the opacity of the noise that is multiplied with the whole iris giving color variation.

U) Iris Noise Shape: This control the frequency and shape of the noise.

SCLERA

A) Sclera Color: Base color for the sclera.

B) Sclera Vein Amount: This controls the opacity of the detailed veins on the sclera.

C) Sclera Vein Number: This controls the number of the detailed veins on the sclera.

D) Sclera Vein Position: This controls how far toward the iris the veins can reach.

E) Sclera Vein Rotate: This rotates the detailed veins on the sclera.

F) Sclera Vein Size: This controls the thickness of the detailed veins on the sclera.

G) Sclera Red Position: This controls how far toward the iris the red mass can reach.

You can also use the main curve (“mainCtrl_ncv”) to rotate and move the eye and the aim control (“pupilCtrl_ncv”) to aim the whole eye or to scale the pupil.
If you want to take a look at the shading network, there is a bookmark for the node editor to make it a little easier to read.
Hdr using for lighting and reflections is NOT included, remember to add one🙂

I am not really sure I understood your question, but if you want faster feedback while changing the attributes you can use maya software and IPR. You will get some artifacts but the approximation to the final look is very good.
You don’t need to change the materials cause I have left a lambert connected to the shading group, you just need to hide the cornea (or make a new render layer).

About

Hi! My name is Luca, I’m an italian currently living in Granada (Spain) and I’m a 3d artist specialized in lighting and compositing.
I’ll be posting all those nerdy stuff I do while working hoping that they can be useful to someone.